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Talk:Survival of the Fittest
Technical Issue with Bionics I'm new to the Bionic Wiki and am not sure what the protocol is for adding new content, so I figured I would just place this on the talk page for now. A "gaffe" that comes up a lot in this series but doesn't seem to be mentioned much (I haven't seen it yet anyway) is concerning Steve's bionics and their relationship to the rest of his body. For the most part, Steve's head, torso and left arm are normal, and the bionic right arm and legs are attached to it. There's never any specific mention of modifications to the rest of his body (aside from his eye of course). The gaffe is most easy to point out first in this episode, when Steve helps Oscar change the tire on the Mustang by lifting it (since they have no jack). Of course, he uses his bionic right arm and legs to perform this feat. The problem is that these parts are attached to a normal torso. Even though the bionics may give him the necessary strength, you have to account for the strain on the joining of his bionic arm to his normal torso. Lifting several thousand pounds of car would produce enormous stress on that joint. In all likelihood, the downward force from gravity affecting the weight of the car would most likely have ripped his arm right off his torso. The only way it would have been possible to do this and not be ripped apart would be for all of his joints, musculature and skeletal structure to have been reinforced in some way, but this is never stated to be the case. This technical issue is easy to identify in this episode, but really something similar could be argued for a large number of the bionic feats that take place during the series, specifically whenever his arm is used for pulling or lifting as it would constantly put tremendous pressure on the connection between his arm and the torso. Arcturys (talk) 22:12, September 15, 2012 (UTC) :Hi Arcturys and welcome to the wiki. Part of the mythology of Six Mill and Bionic Woman is that bionics work despite this real-world technical issue. It's part of the the science fiction. We presume that reinforcements to the connective structures are in place. Therefore, we don't recognize it as a gaffe. — Paul (talk) 02:01, September 16, 2012 (UTC) :::Ah I see. I figured it might be too nitpicky, but it always struck me as something that could have been so easily resolved with a single line or two of story. And I figured this would be the site to bring up such an issue, but also why I kept it here instead of on the main page in case a more learned fan could explain it for me. :) Thanks for the welcome and for the clarification! Arcturys (talk) 03:45, September 16, 2012 (UTC) Spoiler Colby As Christine Bellford is credited in the front of the episode without her character name, I'm guessing that she is given "Bobby Colby" as a result of viewing the episode, and the policy here of preferring first names over rank/titles. All to the good as far as it goes (and if someone has a script that's another story), but here's the hitch: for the first half of the ep, "Lt. Colby" is one of the good guys, while Cromwell and Maxwell reference their mysterious third accomplice, "Bobby." So providing the character's first name in our listing is a major plot spoiler. What about listing her as Lt. Colby as a masked name directing to the article Bobby, e.g.:Lt. Colby? That way skimming the article wouldn't spoil it (though if the synopsis gets expanded it could be spoiled there), requiring a clickthrough to get to it. Yes the cat is 36 years out of the bag, but still, it is a major turning point in the ep.--Major Sloan 21:16, July 17, 2010 (UTC) :As much as I personally would like to preserve the reveals of all mystery episodes, the objective is counterproductive to our mission. And as you pointed out, it could be spoiled in the summary. After all, we do encourage thoroughness. Still, I'd like to meet you halfway. Maybe we can create a special Bionic Wiki Spoiler Alert for episodes with unique plot details. I'm reminded of those cool little icons in the Dummies books (a bulls-eye for "tips," a bomb with a lit fuse for "warning," and a finger with a string tied around it to signify a "reminder"). We could look into setting something like that up for spoilers. On the issue of names and titles: we only drop the title if the first name is used in the show. Hence Dr. Franklin vs. Carl Franklin. — Paul (talk) 09:36, October 13, 2010 (UTC) ::Joe, I'm reversing myself on this issue. Spoilers should still never be our concern, and I still prefer to drop titles if the first name is given - but in this case, "Bobby" is a plot reveal rather than simple character information (I haven't read the script but I'll bet COLBY doesn't suddenly change to BOBBY once the name was revealed). Therefore, we should reflect the name as it is introduced: "Lieutenant Colby," and restrict "Bobby" to the body of the article. — Paul (talk) Colby death? Did Lt. Colby also die in the episode? She screamed when Steve stopped her and then I didn't see her again, and it didn't seem like she got rescued.. (Seems like people were dropping like flies in this one!) :She was shot by Cromwell and presumably died. — Paul (talk) 05:44, May 21, 2012 (UTC)